


Family Is What You Make It (one shots)

by ElSandersWrites



Series: Family Is What You Make It [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Cat Sleep | Remy Sanders, Cute, Cute Kids, Family, Fluff, Gen, Logan's a teacher, Meet-Cute, Mutual Pining, Pining, cute as hell fluff, more cat content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28016844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElSandersWrites/pseuds/ElSandersWrites
Summary: One shots based on Family Is What You Make It AU (not necessary to read beforehand but you can)In original story:Logan and Virgil are 26/27Roman and Remus are 15/16 (Sophomore year)Patton is 13/14 (8th grade)Emile is 5/6 (Kindergarten)Remy is an adult cat (idk maybe around 4/5)One shots either surround when Virgil and Logan were in college together or when the kids are younger or older by a few years.Most will be very fluffy and trigger warnings will be given along with the ages of relevant characters.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dr. Emile Picani, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders & Dr. Emile Picani, Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Family Is What You Make It [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052087
Comments: 29
Kudos: 72





	1. Make Up

**Author's Note:**

> In first chapter Logan and Virgil are 18 (freshmen in college). TW - Alcohol and slightly drunk people.

Logan Crofters sat in his dorm room, sitting at his desk with maths work in front of him. There was certainly a lot of work to do, and he wanted to get it all done before his video call with his parents. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, checking the time. It was 8pm, so not too late but he only had an hour or two to complete everything. Luckily his roommate was out, partying or something. The two didn’t talk often as Logan always worked and the roommate always partied. 

“Sheeerlooock!” A voice called from the corridor, a recognisable voice and arguably Logan’s favourite voice: his best friend Virgil Black. He knew that sounded very gay, but he was – and Virgil made that obvious. “What you doin’?”

“Work.”

“At 8pm? What happened to your sleep schedule?” Virgil laughed, sitting just outside of Logan’s eyesight on Logan’s bed. This situation was very predictable, Virgil disturbing Logan’s school work ‘just because he felt like it’. “When’s it due then?”

“The 21st…” Logan mumbled again, sorting through papers and scribbling down answers. He could sense Virgil thinking, calculating, in his head sorting through the dates.

“So you have just over two weeks to do it?”

Logan only nodded and carried on working. He had some peace and quiet, and at some point Virgil would help that peace by getting his headphones and sitting nearby, just relaxing with music and a game on his phone. Their friendship was just that – they could relax together and not even speak to each other. Sometimes there’d be a maths question Virgil needed answering but apart from that they enjoyed each other’s silence. Logan flinched spotting Virgil’s veiny hand appear suddenly in front of what he was writing. He dropped his pencil immediately. “You can do that tomorrow, we’re going out tonight.” Logan turned his head, expecting to see his best friend’s usual smile but instead he had a gay panic.

Black lipstick graced on Virgil’s lips, shining in the slight moonlight, along with thick eyeliner above Virgil’s dark brown eyes on top of his usual dark eyeshadow. He could feel his cheeks heating up just looking at his best friend, desiring to touch his lips while he spoke. “We’re going out to a party. ‘Rho Sigma Chi’ is having a gay night in their frat house and we have to go and score a frat boy.” Logan managed to tear his eyes away from Virgil’s lips with his jaw almost falling. Virgil was amazing – and not just because of his Red Jumpsuit Apparatus t-shirt and ripped black jeans. “God Lo you’re tired – but we’re going to get you dressed up and looking hot alright?”

Logan nodded and followed Virgil to his wardrobe. Virgil inspected all of Logan’s clothes, getting something out and then looking Logan up and down before placing the item back where it was. Logan just couldn’t stop staring, he was losing himself every second looking at the person in front of him. He loved him.

But Virgil definitely didn’t love him back. They were just best friends, Virgil told their mutual friends that the pair seemed like brothers. This was his first time freely exploring his identity whereas Logan had a boyfriend before he left for Florida. He shouldn’t be tied down just yet, especially with the lame nerd Logan was. There was an attraction there but it was definitely one way. 

“Perfect! Cheesy maths joke, Star Wars beanie and some skinny jeans – very you.” Virgil smirked as he placed the clothes in Logan’s hands. The red face had seemed to be ignored – thus far. “I’m going to leave for 5 minutes and you better be changed by then.”

*****

Virgil and Logan walked into the frat house together. Lots of rainbow, alcohol, and making out. They stood awkwardly for a few minutes together, by a window, until Logan braved the crowd to get the two of them a drink. He didn’t come back. 

Virgil wasn’t sure what to expect from the frat party. He supposed he thought that the perfect man would just walk up to him and start a conversation; then they would fall in love, date, get married and live their lives together in perfect harmony. Granted he wanted that handsome stranger to be Logan but it couldn’t be that way. When he started to get thirsty Virgil stood and went through the crowd, either finding his best friend or getting a drink.

He managed to find a free sink and got some water. The only other drinks available was alcohol and even though there was no security at this party Virgil didn’t want to risk getting drunk and embarrassing himself. Next was finding his best friend.

He walked slower through the party this time, enjoying the atmosphere as much as he could even though it would usually cause him to panic. But it was a completely male gay frat party so Virgil didn’t mind looking a few people up and down with a small smirk and daydreaming about a conversation with them. A few did start conversations but it was a complete turn off. They were almost unintelligible and only a few were drunk, most just didn’t have any good conversation skills unlike the conversations he had with Logan that always flowed like smooth butter.

He eventually found his best friend. He was under the moonlight with another man, holding his hands and mid a romantic kiss. It looked like a Disney movie, it looked like love – and it hurt like hell. He wanted that. No, he needed that. He needed to feel that happiness, and he longed for that love with Logan. But the man was fit and tall with golden blond hair, an absolute dreamboat unlike the awkward and ugly teenager Virgil still was. Logan deserved that hot Ken and not the awkward best friend. 

Virgil sat on the grass and sipped his water. He didn’t want to look up at his best friend’s happiness. It felt wrong to just be sitting there while his best friend was kissed. But he eventually heard a voice. “Virgil? Bud are you alri-“

“Oh come on don’t you want to have some fun?” The Ken giggled, holding onto Logan while Logan tried to walk closer. The Ken’s voice was slurred and Logan seemed to find that annoying.

“I need to go to my friend, leave me alone.” Logan murmured trying to free himself from Ken’s grasp. Ken just giggled and ignored, trying to take Logan into another kiss. Virgil would feel like he was intruding but Logan definitely didn’t seem to like all the attention. Ken tried mumbling a few more words while Logan’s movements only got more sharp and annoyed; Logan scowled hearing ‘my king’ come out of Ken’s mouth (a nickname probably given because of his thick British accent) until he finally shouted at him making others look over. “ENOUGH! I SAID MAYBE TO THE ‘FUN’ – NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Ken seemed to obey that command and ducked into the darkness. Logan took a breath and smiled at Virgil, walking over and sitting next to him. “Sorry for leaving you, I got a little – distracted…” Logan laughed at the last word, scratching the back of his neck and looking up at the night sky.

“It’s alright. He was hot.” Virgil said with a smile, shuffling closer to Logan and looking him over. There wasn’t a mark on him to look at – but Logan’s face just seemed so interesting. He then looked up at the stars like Logan was doing. His thoughts seemed chaotic. He couldn’t handle that at all seeing Logan locking lips with someone else. Maybe he was a jealous friend or maybe he did really want to be Logan’s lover.

Virgil’s eyes landed on Logan’s face again. He definitely loved Logan, with all his heart and maybe some more. He knew what he had to do. He needed to date Logan just to get it out of him – or maybe encourage something else within him and spend the rest of his life with his best friend. But not now, now it was too chaotic around them.

So they stayed together and watched the stars, in silence and small whispers, as well as a lot of love hidden like make-up covering the true indentations of a face.


	2. Little Therapist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emile and Virgil take Remus to a therapy appointment - and Emile learns why Remus goes to 'talk to a friend' once a week.
> 
> TW - Mention of therapy and antidepressants. Main focus is on the cute kid though.
> 
> This one-shot is probably set only a few months after the story ends. So it's probably around November when the kids were adopted in June. So Emile has just started elementary school and Patton has just started high school. Roman and Remus are in their junior year.

“Everyone in the car?” Virgil shouted automatically, it had become automatic to ask that question even though only he, Remus and Emile were going in the car. He was helping Emile with his seatbelt and Remus was sat in the front passenger seat listening to his music. Once Emile was securely in the car Virgil gave him a forehead kiss and then went in the driver’s seat. He knew the route he was taking very well, he’d taken the journey alone or with Logan driving for years – and recently he’d also taken Remus. It was therapy. “Remember to ask Carol about remembering to take your pills, you should figure out a way to remember so you don’t go to school without them.” Virgil kept his voice low speaking to Remus; Emile didn’t usually take this journey with the pair – but he had to today as Patton and Roman both needed supervising at high school competitions - and Logan had to cover that job as he was their teacher.

“Yeah, I know.” Remus mumbled, his earphone only in one ear as he yawned. He was up late the night before worrying. It’s not that he didn’t like his therapy, he loved that he got the opportunity to have it, he just always felt a bit – off – when talking to someone about his feelings. He still wasn’t used to it. Virgil nodded, not needing to say anymore as he focused on driving.

“Where’s Remus going Papa?” A voice chirped from the back of the car making Virgil’s thoughts pause. This was the kind of question Logan would answer with ease. He was good at simplifying things and encouraging questions. Virgil was not.

“I’m just going to a… friend.” Remus answered his little brother slowly, his eyes revealing the same calculating look Logan pulls when answering Emile’s questions. “Carol is a friend I talk to about my problems. She helps me understand them and improve myself.”

Emile nodded, seeming satisfied with that answer and turning back to the game he was playing. It was silence in the car for a few minutes, the therapy office was in sight, and Emile spoke again. “Why don’t you talk to your school friends about your problems? Or us?”

“I do. Carol just knows a lot about brains so knows the best way to help me.” Remus smiled at his little brother as Virgil tried and almost failed to parallel park outside the therapy office. Once he parked they all got out the car, Virgil carrying Emile who held a confused expression as if his small brain was trying to figure out another question. Remus knew exactly what to do in these offices. He signed himself in by himself and went into the room to talk to his therapist. Virgil and Emile were instructed to wait outside as Remus was known to sometimes need calming from his family in these visits.

Virgil sat in a chair with Emile on his lap playing a game. That game only entertained him for a few minutes more before he went to the corner of the waiting room to see what games there were there. Virgil watched him happily explore, he loved watching his little mind work. Sometimes he wished he could have known the Ray-Feliz boys earlier to see Patton, Roman and Remus at their innocent child exploration phase. Emile was just the cutest. 

Emile was staring at a bookshelf. He was only in first grade so couldn’t read well. He knew the sounds letters made but that didn’t correlate exactly to vocabulary. Emile just stared at the spines of the books sucking his thumb. “Papa! What’s psh-cholo-jee?” Emile shouted across the room, grabbing one of the heavy books and running over to his father. Virgil looked confused for a moment before reading the book and smiling.

“Psychology. It’s all about knowing stuff about the brain. Dad really really likes psychology – he can tell you about it when we get home!” Virgil cheered, placing Emile on his lap. Emile grabbed the book again and opened it, looking at the letter shapes to see if there were any words he recognised.

“Do I learn psychology at school?” Emile chirped again. First grade wasn’t the most exciting compared to what his brothers did. All he did was reading and writing, maths, a little bit of science and a little bit of history or art or geography. His brothers did all different things like musical theatre and cooking and criminology. He wanted to learn fun things too.

“You can when you’re in big school like your brothers. Then you can get a job like this!” Virgil said, pointing around the waiting room. Emile sucked his thumb and looked around the room from the comfort of his father’s lap. “Look – can you use your sounds to say this word?” Virgil got Emile’s attention and pointed to a word in the big book on their laps. Emile was silent for a minute remembering the ‘special sounds’ he’d been taught in school.

“Th-er-a-p-ist?” Emile mumbled. He was congratulated with a big hug once he said it correctly.

“Good boy! That’s what the friend Remus is talking to is called!”

“I thought she was called Carol?”

“Well, yes, but a therapist is her job. Like Dad’s a teacher.” Virgil snuggled into his small son who was looking at everything with complete curiosity and amazement. He immediately imagined his son in fifteen or twenty years time as a therapist with his little pink tie and knitted cardigan. He ruffled his son’s hair with a big goofy smile, fully preparing for Logan to be bombarded with psychology questions when they got home.

After some time Remus entered the waiting room, a small smile given to Virgil even though his eyes were bloodshot. Virgil gave his eldest son a hug, telling him that he was always welcome to talk to him about issues but Remus only shook his head. Sometimes it was just healthy to cry for no reason. When Emile saw his brother his smile widened and he ran over, shouting at the top of his voice.

“Re-Re! Re-Re! I’m going to be a therapist!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one-shot was a little short but it's so cute!
> 
> Would you like to see a one-shot of Emile in the future as a high schooler or Roman/Remus/Patton in college or adulthood?


	3. New Teacher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan has his first day at Sanders Academy High, and meets Janus Jackson.
> 
> TW - Mention of alcohol and drinking and mention of being gay (but not homophobia). And Janus (people who read the first book know what 'Janus' means in TW)
> 
> Ages:  
> Logan and Virgil are just graduated college (so 22/23)  
> Janus is a few years older (maybe around 27)  
> Remy is a small kitten - only just adopted so a few months old. There's more kitten Remy content coming soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's Janus content! Do you want more Janus content? For example a one shot about Janus' day in the life in his POV?
> 
> Ideas are always welcomed and I'll see if I can fit them in.

Logan scowled at himself in the mirror, tying his tie for the fourth time. His husband was in the shower behind him – his husband, he couldn’t believe that. Virgil was the best person in the world and Logan was married to him. He couldn’t help but watch his husband with a small smile, pausing his tying while longing his husband’s kiss. Virgil realised this intense staring and smirked, wrapping a towel around himself and then walking over. “Isn’t it your first day today?” He said, kissing Logan’s cheek and holding his hand. “Shouldn’t you hurry up a bit?”

“Please kiss me first.” Logan almost begged. This was the definition of young love, they had just graduated college together and were beginning their lives of adulthood. Logan had become a teacher at the local high school and Virgil was still working the barista job he had as a teenager. Virgil’s smirk became more mischievous and he rubbed his lips across Logan’s, resisting the kiss and instead helping Logan with his tie. Logan seemed to mumble in disappointment.

“You can’t be late darling. You’ll have lots of kisses when you’re back.”

“No…” Logan pouted, holding Virgil around his waist and nuzzling Virgil softly. It was Virgil’s weakness – closeness. Any type of closeness Logan gave to Virgil would turn him to mush and Logan could get anything he wanted. After a few seconds of soft nuzzles Virgil closed the distance between them, feeling the warmth of his husband and smiling gently. He could be in this moment forever. “Mm…” Logan smiled as he leant away from his husband’s lips. “Now I really have to go Stormcloud.” Virgil chuckled softly, drunk on love, not yet wanting to open his eyes and let the moment go.

“Good luck Sherlock. You’ll kill it.”

*****

“Good morning and welcome to Sanders Academy High School!” A cheery woman in her late fifties stood on the stage of the high school theatre. She was in front of teachers but spoke to the group like they were students. Logan was at the front as he was one of the few new teachers – the only new maths teacher in fact. And he was definitely the youngest. “I do hope we all work together to help our students this year, from Ivy League seniors to struggling freshmen. It’s best to remember they all look up to you.”

Logan nodded along when he needed to. This was scary. Everyone seemed to already know each other, even the two new teachers had mentioned they had transferred from the same high school in the next district. They were all in groups, quietly talking to each other and pretty much ignoring their boss on stage who was going through previous graduation results and destinations of students. Logan found the data quite interesting so focused on that; a few seniors each year went to Ivy League universities like Harvard and Yale, one or two in the last three years went to the drama schools UCLA or Julliard, and others went to state universities or onto jobs they were passionate about. It was quite a good school he managed to get a job in.

After the speech Logan stood, and could only stand still. The groups came together again, laughing and joking together and didn’t seem to bat the new and awkward maths teacher an eye. He took a deep breath. He hated being the new kid – and didn’t think that being a teacher would be as bad. He looked through his bag to look busy, getting out the map of the high school where his classroom was circled. He could organise his lessons in his new classroom instead of going through this social event.

That was until he spotted a man walking up to him, wearing mostly black with a bright yellow tie. “New?” Was all he said, his arms crossing over his chest with a smirk. Logan shyly nodded, scared of the man even though the person was only probably in his late twenties. “Call me Janus. I’ll call you…” Janus brought out a hand. It took a few minutes for Logan to function.

“Uh… Logan… Crofters…”

“So Logan? You know co-workers can be on a first name basis right?” Janus shook Logan’s hand roughly as soon as Logan grabbed it, a low chuckle coming forward. “Students call me Mr Jackson. I teach English and Drama here, you?”

Logan sighed internally. English classrooms and maths classrooms were at the complete opposite sides of the school. He’d probably only see this Janus once. “Maths.” He said with a smile, hiding his slight disappointment. Janus laughed again.

“Yeah, you give me that kind of vibe. You foreign?” Janus pointed at his own lips, probably spotting Logan’s accent. It was still quite thick even though he had gone to an American college for four years and had an American husband. Sometimes, like now, it made him stick out like a sore thumb.

“Ah, yes, I’m English.” Janus looked confused for a second, let go of Logan’s hand with a small smile.

“Where in England?”

That was a new question. In college when people asked what accent he had usually British would be enough – English if he trusted they knew basic geography. They would never desire more detail then that. He doubted Americans understood the concept of English counties, especially since the county he was from was quite unknown. “Uh… Hampshire?” He expected he’d need to give more detail. He’d probably have to say Hampshire was near London – it wasn’t – but it would prevent awkwardness. Instead Janus’ eyes lit up and he gasped.

“Like Jane Austen? How close are you to Steventon?” He tried not to laugh at the English teacher geeking out over a British author, but a small smile escaped.

“I guess I’m pretty close. Glad you know your English geography.”

Janus and Logan carried on talking on and off the entire day. Logan soon realised that it didn’t matter the two teachers were on the opposite sides of the school. When lunch period came round he let the kids go and then got his lunchbox out. It was something simple Virgil made for him, the small action made Logan feel warm and feel the need to hold his husband's hand. He soon realised the groups of teachers walking towards the nearby staff room. Logan sighed and walked outside his classroom to follow the crowd. 

“Hey Crofters!” A voice shouted, half expecting it to be an enthusiastic senior. But no, it was Janus walking towards him. He then walked closer. He was close enough so that he could whisper excitedly. “So the deal is – we’re meant to eat in the staff room or the student canteen. I don’t give a shit about that though so you want to eat lunch in my classroom?”

And that became a daily occurrence. Every day at school Janus and Logan spent time together before school, at lunch, and sometimes after school. Around a fortnight into their routine the two were talking at lunch. “So yeah – my college friend has their party in a bar this weeken… Wait – you can only just drink right?”

“Um… Well I’ve been able to drink in the UK for many years so I’m not new to the experience.” Logan mumbled, he had gotten used to the unusual questions and statements from his friend. “Which bar are you going to?”

“Uh… Discover’s End?” Janus said sheepishly, looking away from the maths teacher and instead to the floor, finishing eating his apple in silence. Logan gave a smile of reassurance before asking for more clarification.

“Gay bar?”

Janus nodded shyly, the first time he had been brought to silence. Logan only shrugged and gave a wider smile. “It’s a good place. Been there with my husband.” Logan subtly flashed his wedding ring, he had not told Janus about his partner yet. Janus’ smile appeared again and it was wide. 

“Oh yes my gay-dar is so good!” He cheered himself causing Logan to giggle. “When can I meet this husband? I am your best friend after all.”

Logan shrugged, thinking through Virgil’s barista shifts to think of a good time to warn him of an impending visit. The pair talked back and forth to decide an appropriate date for Janus and Logan to finish school together and for Janus to come for dinner. He assured himself it was a good idea – although Janus was a little extravagant he was nice. Everything would be fine.

*****

Virgil was calming his breaths. Today was a big day, he was going to meet Logan’s coworker. He had to make a good impression. What if he didn’t? Then Logan would have no friends at work and hate teaching and it would be all his fault. He couldn’t do that to his husband. Everything had to be perfect.

The table was set for three people, Remy sleeping on one of the chairs. He gave the kitten a small stroke as he walked past. Snacks were beside the TV, no meat or gluten options as although Logan told him his friend hadn’t mentioned being vegetarian or gluten free he didn’t want to risk upsetting him. But he forgot to consider vegan – and that worried him more. Could he cancel this meeting? He could say he was urgently needed at the coffee shop, or his family called - even though the two teachers were already on their way. No, it would be obvious he was trying to skip the event. He had to be there for his husband.

He looked at Remy, the fluffy grey kitten sleeping on a chair. What if the coworker was allergic to cats? He couldn’t take Remy outside – he was definitely an indoor cat. He could place Remy in Logan and Virgil’s bedroom of course. That was mean though, Remy had never been alone before. He was either in the house with Virgil or if Virgil had work the same time as Logan was at school Remy went to Virgil’s parents’ house for a few hours. Locking him in a room alone for the first time would be torturous for the little kitten…

“AY! THE ONLY PUSSY I LIKE!” A new voice erupted through the door followed by Logan’s soft laugh. Virgil turned and held the hand of his husband, snuggling in to calm his nerves. The coworker ran to Remy, who opened his eyes tiredly and accepted being picked up and cradled like a baby. “This is Remy Crofters? He’s more adorable than you said!”

Logan chuckled again, holding an arm around Virgil. The warmth was immediately calming. “Yes, that’s our son. It’s good I mentioned he was a cat yesterday.” He reached his arm around to stroke Virgil’s cheek. “And this is my world, Virgil.”

The coworker placed Remy on the sofa and walked over, shaking Virgil’s hand. “I’m Janus Jackson. Logan told me a lot about you, don’t worry – all good things.”

“Nice alliteration… JJ.” Virgil nervously said. He knew Janus was an English teacher, and Virgil had an English degree, so he prayed he’d understand a reference. Janus smirked and turned to Logan.

“Well, I haven’t been called JJ since grade school – I’m staying for dinner aren’t I Croft?”

Logan nodded, letting go of Virgil to walk into the kitchen. They were going to cook beef casserole – I suppose Virgil could have assumed Janus wasn’t vegetarian. Janus sat down and stroked Remy. Remy enjoyed the company and purred, being the cute kitten he always was. Virgil sat opposite him and examined him for a few minutes. He wore a black and yellow checkered shirt and slightly ripped jeans, formal enough to be a teacher but also casual and relaxed. Logan was always dressed formally for work in a suit and tie, it was how he dressed in school in the UK so he was used to the formality. It also made him look ten times more attractive. 

Janus gave a soft smirk at Virgil. “He cannot stop talking about you, you know. Every day he has something to say about you.”

“I probably do the same.” Virgil nervously laughed, wiping his hands together and watching his husband balance the tasks to make the perfect meal. Virgil was the better cook of the two of them, but Logan wanted to improve so took the opportunity to get any practice he could get. That did leave Virgil with the new guest though.

“You two deserve each other. Are you going to expand your family any time soon? I’d be happy to sign adoption papers and stuff.”

Virgil shrugged. Logan and Virgil hadn’t talked about kids at all, it’s not like they needed to worry about ‘happy accidents’ unlike if they were a straight couple. “Maybe a few more cats – or a dog. I’d love a dog.”

“Ah, so he’s Daddy to only you.” Janus whispered, giving Virgil a knowing glare as he ate a Dorito. Virgil couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Janus seemed to know his exact humour – that of a twelve year old. Janus laughed too and then turned towards the kitchen. “Oi! Daaaaddyyyyyy…” He shouted, leaning back slightly so he could scream more.

“Yeah, yeah Jan I hear you. Let Virgil call me that.”


	4. Elementary School and High School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emile worries about elementary school and Patton begins high school.
> 
> TW - None. Just cuteness.
> 
> This takes place only a few months after the adoption.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dominic is in this chapter! (Thomas' friend). Since Thomas, Joan and Talyn were in the original book I will include the three of them as well as the rest of Thomas' friends in this one-shot book.
> 
> Also question for Americans - do you have graphic design lessons? It's kind of like woodwork but also includes other design methods like 3D printing and electrical work. We also call it Product Design or Technology in the UK.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Patton looked through his wardrobe humming to himself. It was an important day. He could hear Roman and Remus talking to each other, probably bickering about who would shower first. Patton made sure to shower early so he had time to decide the perfect outfit. It was finally his first day at high school.

He remembered being a young child and watching the high schoolers at the park. They seemed so cool, playing soccer and figuring out extra curriculars and colleges. When Roman and Remus started high school he was excited to be so close to what seemed like an amazing time. And now he was there, with two amazing fathers. He went clothes and stationary shopping with his brothers the day before so now he had lots of choice in what to wear. Eventually he managed to choose an oversized light blue Nike t-shirt and light blue skinny jeans with white sneakers. It was simple – but it was perfect. He squealed in excitement and ran downstairs.

Virgil was making eggs on toast in the kitchen, his husband hanging on his back with a large smile. The family had spent several months of a honeymoon period together, with the kids being newly adopted and the summer holidays meant all the kids and Logan didn’t have work or school. “Hi Dad! Hi Paps!” Patton cheered getting a breakfast serving. The two parents smiled but continued whispering sweet nothings to each other. Patton sat next to his little brother Emile, who was as excited as him since he was going to start elementary school. “Do you like my outfit?”

“It’s perfect Patton.” Logan smiled, finally dragging himself away from his husband to sit and eat breakfast with his sons. “Where’s the twins?”

“Here Dad!” Roman shouted, running down the stairs followed by his brother. Roman had prepared for this day all summer, designing the perfect hoodie with golden stars cascading down his chest with rainbow across the sleeves. Remus was quietly following behind, finishing his eyeshadow quietly and taking deep breaths. “Here’s to junior year!”

Emile watched his brothers and his parents quietly, finishing his breakfast and sucking his thumb. It was a nervous habit, a sweet nervous habit for the small boy. He did it when first introduced to Logan, then when first taken in by the Crofters family, and plenty of other instances. He watched his older brothers and fathers chat to each other, talking about high school. It wasn’t something Emile knew about and it scared him. “Dada…” Emile chirped, tugging at his Dad’s button up shirt and looking up to him. Logan finished his mouthful of food and smiled, facing his youngest son. “Is elementary school hard?”

Logan paused for a moment, glancing at Emile sympathetically. “Well… It should be quite easy since you’re a smart boy – but if you find some bits difficult you have a whole big family to help you!”

Logan couldn’t help but lift his son off his seat and place him on his lap. He was just so small and delicate that Logan couldn’t help but cuddle him each morning. And Emile accepted it, he loved the attention he got from his parents. He hadn’t felt such love before so he absorbed it. His brothers continued talking about high school, the twins warning Patton of certain social rules or argumentative teachers. Emile didn’t mind following the conversation anymore. Logan was so attentive towards him, and Virgil was paying him attention too. He needed all the attention from them.

*****

Patton looked around the high school corridor nervously. He knew his first classroom, he believed he knew the way to it, but Roman, Remus and his Dad had abandoned him in favour of their classes. He looked around, recognising no-one, then opened his locker. He examined his locker with a small, sticking a few dog and cat stickers on his locker he already had, until a voice made him jump.

“Oh my God! Is that Mr Crofters’ other kid? I think it is!” Patton followed the voice with his eyes, finding a schoolgirl who he nervously smiled and waved at. The girls looking at him only freaked out more, saying how similar Patton was to his Dad. It made Patton smile softly hearing them scream the similarities like the glasses, nervousness perceived as shyness, the posture. They weren’t genetically related but he loved when people would think they were, although it was rare.

Eventually Patton was distracted when a friend from middle school ran up to him and walked with him into their first ever high school class. It was weird – he had been in the high school classrooms before when middle school teachers were absent so the layout wasn’t too strange for him. That exact instance was how he first met his Dad anyway, when Mr Crofters was teaching an eighth grade class. He remembered how excited he felt that he was going to be taught in the high school for that lesson, and even better since he was going to be taught by Roman and Remus’ maths teacher. It felt different actually being a high schooler though, knowing this was where he’s spend the next four years learning and being shaped into his adult self.

Patton sat in a seat near the front next to his friend. Their teacher had his feet up on the desk watching the students walk in nervously. “Freshmen, freshmen come in. I don’t bite – except on Friday nights.” The teacher said. Patton knew of this teacher but hadn’t actually met him before. He was an art and film studies teacher with a distinctive dyed side fringe and a bristly dark brown beard. “I’m Mr Golding, I’m having you for this morning. Homeroom’s extended so don’t go get paints or anything.”

Mr Golding stayed in his relaxed position but played a PowerPoint, skipping unimportant slides. A few students preferred chatting and listening and the teacher seemed to honestly not care. He finally got to an important slide and sighed. “Right, freshers – we have to have a conversation about ‘where you want to be in four years’… I think in terms of careers.”

Patton hadn’t given much of a thought to what job he was going to have. His older brothers told him to not be too involved in fantasies, and getting a job seemed like a fairytale fantasy before he was adopted. He was usually the type of student that would put his hand up straight away but with this question he was rendered silent. He listened to his classmates; they wanted to be doctors or vets or actors. They were probably allowed and encouraged to think of all the jobs they could do since they were small children.

“Hey, Nike kid.” Mr Golding clicked his fingers causing Patton to look over from his classmates to his teacher. The teacher looked neutral until his eyes widened in realisation “Wait… You’re a Crofters?”

“Yes Sir.” Patton said quickly as if he was in the army. Mr Golding smiled and finally placed his feet off the teacher’s desk to face Patton more comfortably.

“And what do you want to be?”

Patton shrugged, looking away from the teacher for a moment in thought. He could only think about it logically. And logically, he enjoyed being a big brother to Emile more than anything in the world. He loved watching Emile’s little smile and help feed Emile’s curiosity. So there was only one option he knew about. “I don’t know Sir… Maybe a teacher?”

“Did your Dad pay you to say that?” Patton shook his head nervously causing the other students to giggle slightly. “Good. I don’t accept any sort of bribery in this classroom – and trust me my juniors have tried their luck.” Mr Golding went back to his computer and mumbled to himself, carrying onto the next slide.


	5. A Crofters Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes I made a Christmas themed chapter to celebrate the holidays. It's cute as hell.
> 
> TW - Swearing and innuendo (but nothing actually happens they just joke about it)
> 
> This is probably the first Christmas the family spend together, or maybe the second. All boys are under 18 anyway, Logan and Virgil are late 20s and Virgil's parents are in their 50s/60s.

Virgil visualised his husband’s face in the dark. He was smiling like an idiot at 1am while organising in what order all the presents would go. “We have to be quiet honey, we don’t want to ruin the Christmas magic.” Logan whispered excitedly, giving Virgil a peck on the lips as he turned on a dim torch. Virgil mumbled to himself and grabbed Logan’s hand to wake up as he added the final bows.

“I think only Emile still believes in Santa babe.” He said softly, the goofy smile eventually appearing on his face too as he stood and gave his husband a kiss on the cheek. “And even then, elementary school kids can be bitches so they might have told him.”

Logan only shrugged while Virgil drew circles on his cheek. The only expression Logan could describe on his husband’s face was pure joy. If he was cheesy enough he’d say that the magic of Christmas made his husband wake up with minimal complaints instead of refusing to stand up. It made Logan attack his husband’s face with a kiss again, this kiss slightly longer as they were both too tired to let go. Virgil giggled into the kiss and ruffled Logan’s hair. “We going to do the stockings or do you have something else in mind now?”

“Mmm… Shut up.” Logan chuckled, giving Virgil a last peck before grabbing as many presents as he could and heading downstairs. Virgil did the same and followed slightly more sleepily. It was magic how Logan always seemed wide awake no matter what time it was. He didn’t think he’d met a sleep deprived Logan yet in their eight years of knowing each other.

They eventually had managed to fill all the stockings, admiring their embroidered sons’ names before they’d be packed away another year. “Kind of fun how Patton and Roman rhyme with Logan – makes you fit right in.” Virgil murmured, hanging Roman’s red stocking back up against the fireplace. 

“And Remus rhymes with you – Virgulas.” Logan giggled and stuck his tongue out, making Virgil sigh. No-one used his full name which he was proud of, he was just named Virgil by everyone even though Virgulas was on his birth certificate. It meant not many people knew of his full name too – so he was only taunted about it from his husband. He couldn’t help that his parents were English nerds so wanted to give their first child a unique name.

“Fuck you.” He said playfully, not expecting a response from his husband.

“I’m ready when you’re ready.”

Even though the pair had been married for years and were dating for a while before marriage, any mention of sexual activities from Logan made Virgil stutter and blush. They only sometimes actually followed through with it afterwards, but just the idea of it absolutely broke Virgil when looking at his husband. He was so lucky to marry that man.

Logan stood in front of the fireplace and picked up the sherry, mince pie and carrot that was left by the boys before bedtime. He examined the carrot while Virgil walked over. “Should we just cut the carrot with a knife honey? It’s far too hard to put your mouth around…” Logan’s speech murmured once he realised what he said, letting Virgil smirk and grab the carrot.

“Watch me. I’m good at fitting hard things in my mouth.”

Logan giggled softly, kissing Virgil’s forehead and snaking his arm around his waist, admiring the love of his life. Virgil was focused on trying to break the carrot, mumbling and swearing to himself while Logan ate the mince pie and drank the sherry. His husband was the cutest being on the planet and he didn't want to let him go.

*****

Virgil yawned as his dream faded away in front of him and he landed in the soft bed he shared with his husband. He turned to his side with another yawn, not having the energy to open his eyes just yet. He knew what day it was, mainly because his sleep got interrupted the night before when they had to fill stockings and eat a mince pie and frozen carrot. He reached out to put an arm around his husband’s chest but surprisingly the other side of the bed was empty. He furrowed his eyebrows and opened an eye for a moment. He was so used to getting Christmas morning cuddles from his husband he didn’t consider that not happening this year.

“Vergie?” A voice echoed as the door opened, followed by a soft thump of Remy at the foot of the bed and then a larger thump of their youngest son Emile.

“Papa! It’s Christmas!” Emile giggled and cuddled Virgil until he sat up. Remy stayed a safe distance from the pair and licked his paw nonchalantly. Virgil then looked to his husband who opened the door, dressed in a Santa hat and a tacky Christmas jumper that Virgil didn’t recognise. He looked the jumper up and down and read the text on it: ‘why didn’t Rudolph go to school… He was Elf-Taught.’ A laugh escaped Virgil reading the Christmas Dad joke making Logan also chuckle and blush.

“From Patton?” Virgil echoed, Logan saying the exact same thing as the answer. Patton had been saying Christmas themed Dad joke after Dad joke since the last week of November. Logan sat on the bed and gave him a breakfast of honey pancakes, and then a wrapped present that also said it was from Patton.

Virgil left the pancakes and focused on the present first, unwrapping it slowly as Patton, Roman and Remus also entered the bedroom and sat around the bed. The twins were joking with each other and doing each other’s Christmas makeup while Patton was just watching and smiling wide in excitement. “Do you like it Papa?” Patton giggled while Virgil was still trying to open it. He wasn’t properly awake yet and had Emile climbing around his chest like a little monkey. Eventually the present revealed itself, another Christmas jumper with a similar design but a different Dad joke.

“What do you call Santa’s little helpers?” Virgil said with a small chuckle reading the jumper. Patton smiled proudly and let him answer. “Subordinate clauses.” The soft smile landed on his face and he called the rest of his sons to a cuddle. He giggled, digging his face into Roman and Patton’s shoulders and holding Remus tighter when he tried to escape. “I love you kiddos.”

“Do you love Dad too?” Logan smirked, leaning closer to Virgil who was overcome with other people lying on top of him. Virgil nodded and allowed Logan to also snuggle in, balancing the weight of their four kids.

*****

Virgil slowly made his way of the house, partly to escape the havoc that Christmas Day had caused his household. All the presents had been opened so Emile and Patton were chasing Roman and Remus with Nerf guns while Logan was determined to get some work marked on Christmas Day. He took a deep breath, watching his parents’ car enter their drive. Mr and Mrs Black wanted to meet their grandsons, so agreed the best time would be Christmas. He ran to his parents like he was a child again and brought them in a hug. “Mom! Dad!” He screamed before attacking them. His parents chuckled before his mom cupped his cheeks.

“My, my, my is that our little V-V? How have you grown up so much in a year?” Virgil giggled, knowing exactly what his mother meant. Virgil’s face had already started to get a few wrinkles, and he wasn’t so bothered with straightening his curly hair like he was throughout his teenage and young adulthood. It was still bright purple, and that’s all he could bother to do with his hair with his busy timetable of kids and coffee shop. He was grateful for looking older, he never wanted to be mistaken for Roman and Remus’ brother as he thought he’d be when adopting them. Logan looked thirty even when he was eighteen. “Where are your boys? We’re excited to see them!”

The front door of the house opened again. Virgil expected it to be one of his sons running to meet their grandparents before he heard the familiar soft voice he loved. “Hi Mr and Mrs Black, come in. Do you mind walking with me Jack?” Logan said, facing Virgil’s father. His dad knocked happily and they walked in together. Virgil’s mom went straight to the living room, while his dad was preoccupied – Logan was whispering excitedly and eventually took him upstairs.

It was an amazing scene, Virgil couldn’t lie about that. Emile ran up to his mother quizzically, looking at Virgil for permission to say hello. But after a few minutes his mother was sat on the sofa with Emile on her lap, watching Roman, Remus and Patton play the video game she got one of them for Christmas. Emile was telling her stories about school and living with his two dads. But the smiles never disappeared. He was glad he adopted his sons, even more happy about it than usual now he saw his two families together surrounded by Santa hats and Christmas jumpers.

“Emile!” Logan called from another room before walking in, the Santa hat he had worn all day was off his head. Emile looked over with a large smile, eating some chocolate gifted to him. “There’s someone here to see you!” Logan cheered as he picked his son up and gave him a cuddle. Virgil couldn’t get enough of how cute it was when his husband held Emile.

“Grandad?” Emile questioned, tilting his head.

“No – someone better.” Logan reached his hand out to help his husband stand from sitting on the floor with their other sons. “Come on boys, you can all come too.”

The family all went upstairs, into Logan and Virgil’s bedroom. And there sat on his bed was Virgil’s father, dressed in a full on Santa outfit complete with a white beard and Santa hat. Emile’s eyes immediately lit him up as soon as he spotted him, trying to wiggle his way out of Logan’s arms. “It’s Santa! Dad got Santa?”

Logan held Virgil close while Emile talked to ‘Santa’. The other boys sat close and joined in the acting, asking Santa for presents too and encouraging Emile that he was talking to the real Santa. Logan couldn’t help take pictures of them, imagining the future when Emile wouldn’t be a small innocent child and the rest of the boys would soon be adults making their own lives. He just wanted to hold them all and make them never grow up.

This was their family, they loved their sons, and with a simple look Virgil brought his husband into a soft and tender Christmas kiss, warming them up inside. A kiss that signified the strength of their love: how strong it was in the past, the passion they felt for each other in the moment, and how they’d persist with their love until the end of time.


	6. A Question Up for Debate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil and Logan confess their love for each other and have their first kiss. This is a long chapter.  
> (And yes I did create a ThomasxNico moment even though Thomas also exists later in the timeline - let's just pretend character Thomas is an eternal being like Doctor Who)
> 
> Logan and Virgil are freshmen year of college (18/19)
> 
> The only TW is anxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you guys also want to see a short LoganxRoman (Logince) book - I've been writing it over the Christmas period.
> 
> But at the moment I'm going to focus back on I am Virgil Sanders. There will be more chapters here just updates might be slower.

“You’re boring, you know that?” Virgil’s roommate, Nico, gave a soft smile while brushing his hair. Virgil only shrugged, midway through a Netflix show and eating a bacon sandwich. “Tom is gonna be so hot… Isn’t your boyfriend on the debate team too?”

“Boyfriend?” Virgil echoed at first, not necessarily putting things together until he realised and scowled. “He’s not my boyfriend yet… I’m going to ask him out next week when I have the balls to do it.”

Nico was Virgil’s enthusiastic roommate; a poet and writer of romance novels and therefore apparently a matchmaker. He had predicted Virgil held an attraction towards their friend, Logan Crofters, before Virgil even realised the cause of his blushing cheeks himself. Virgil just resorted it to social anxiety, but no, it was definitely love. And Virgil was going to do something about it – eventually. “Surely, if you’re going to ask a guy out you shouldn’t ghost him?” Nico taunted, pinning a pansexual badge onto his shirt and smirking at Virgil through the mirror. Virgil mumbled before he could answer.

“I – I’m not ghosting him! I just know that if I look at him the reality would sink in that I’m about to ask a really hot guy on a date who is also my best friend…” Virgil could feel his cheeks heating up at just the thought of Logan. Everything about him just seemed perfect. His voice was just so soft and gentle, he was so caring and sweet, even the way he walked made him look like he was gliding on clouds. That wasn’t even taking into account Logan’s physical features, including his soft lips that Virgil ever so wanted to touch…

Virgil was interrupted from his dream like state by a pile of clothes hitting his face, then Nico smirking at him. “I’m looking hot for Tom, you’re looking hot for Logan.” Nico said, as a command rather than a request before focusing on his hair again. And Virgil was a mess, still in the pyjamas he dressed into after his 3pm class, and now it was the early evening and Nico wanted to see his crush at a college debate. Both his crush and Logan were on the debate team. Nico had been to other debates and always came back from it all lovey-dovey and wanting to tell Virgil about how cute Tom was and how beautiful his eyes were when he was passionate about whatever nerdy topic the team had to argue over.

To be fair Nico knew the exact style Virgil liked. Black jeans as always, along with a purple and black striped shirt and black hoodie. It was simple, but Virgil didn’t want to bring much attention to himself as honestly he was nervous. He had been subtly avoiding Logan for a few days ever since he decided he was going to ask the nerd on a date. And what he wanted to avoid the most was the question of why he had avoided his best friend, especially if that question came from Logan himself.

“Shit! The debate’s gonna start soon V!” Nico shouted as both boys worked on straightening their hair. Luckily the pair had lots of practice being emo under time pressure so soon they grabbed their bags and went to the debate hall.

College debates weren’t usually crowded. Everyone came for the sport competitions, everyone apart from Virgil and his friends as it wasn’t usually their scene. Debates were only attended by ‘nerds’ or friends of the debaters. Virgil knew as soon as he walked in this debate was different though, campus security was walking up and down the seats of the auditorium directing people where to sit. He looked at the other people walking in, every person held a blue piece of paper in that looked like a ticket. Virgil sighed and turned to his friend. “You didn’t book tickets? You’re crazy about seeing Tom at these things…”

Nico didn’t answer, dragging Virgil away to hide behind a curtain. It wasn’t the best view as they couldn’t see all the stage, but they could see the debating podium which was all they truly cared about, and they were out of sight from the campus security checking tickets. The growing audience started to quiet pretty much as soon as they hid, and the lights dimmed to show only the spotlight on the podium. The debate was starting.

An impartial member of the College Debating Union (Virgil had no idea what that meant – Logan had explained it once but Virgil was too captivated by the melodies of his voice and his adorable smirk) was the first to go to the podium and introduce the debate. They were debating about healthcare, or vaccinations, or prescription drugs – Virgil couldn’t focus as he was completely distracted. He had a good view of his college’s debating team from the curtain. And that included Logan. He didn’t need to have the spotlight on him to be visible, stood beside other debating team members and dusting his blazer. He wore a fitted black blazer over the Florida University Debating Society’s t-shirt, matching the logo with a dark blue tie.

Virgil didn’t think Logan could get more attractive, he should really tell him to wear dark blue more often.

Virgil wasn’t particularly interested in debates, while other debaters spoke he almost fell asleep (including when Nico’s crush spoke, which meant he got a harsh elbow when he asked what exactly had happened after Tom’s turn speaking). Logan was the second last to speak, and Virgil was amazed the guy wasn’t more nervous. He just fixed his tie one last time, readjusted his glasses at the podium and spoke gently and clearly. It was like a magic spell, Virgil was immediately captivated by every single word. Nico commented about how his eyes expanded like a blowfish at every syllable uttered by Logan. He just seemed so strong on the stage, and that made him attractive. It wasn’t the type of attraction you feel when watching someone carry heavy weights at the gym, demonstrating their strength that way. This was mental strength, Logan was in his element so his eyes glowed and everything about him seemed a thousand times hotter.

Logan lead up to his conclusion, his voice rough with passion about the certain topic. “And that, ladies, gentlemen and everything in between – is why…” Logan paused for a moment, his eyes finally diverting from the main bulk of the audience to the curtain Nico and Virgil were peering behind. The serious and passionate Logan broke down for a second, a small smirk appearing on Logan’s face and… Did his cheeks just turn pink? Virgil must have imagined that in his head over heels state – no way would Logan be blushing at the sight of him. “That is why I urge you to vote against the proposition and for our side of the debate.”

Nico gave a knowing smile at his friend, who had now completely hid himself behind the curtain to calm his growing nerves. “You OK or you just had a heart attack?” He whispered, letting a small chuckle escape him because he just couldn’t help it.

“Did Logan just blush? At me? God I can’t breathe after that…” Virgil said breathlessly, grabbing onto the front of his t-shirt and trying not to fade into a panic attack. He sat on the floor and calmed himself, convincing himself that blush was all in his head. It’s what he wanted to see – his crush picking him out from the crowd and actually getting shy around him. But Logan was confident all the time so that sudden shyness was impossible.

Virgil was still behind the curtain when he watched people leave the auditorium, and he seemed invisible to them. He gave Nico a nod when he asked if he could leave the curtain to talk to Tom, resulting in him sat hidden and alone having a mental crisis over whether his crush blushed.

What had his life come to?

The curtain moved slowly behind Virgil’s back before he had a chance to look up. The soft chuckle that followed made his heart work overtime and his cheeks become pink as he finally realised who was next to him. Logan motherfucking Crofters.

“You alright Virgil?” Logan said, sitting opposite Virgil so that the curtain was forced to the side and Logan’s features were lit by the subtle auditorium light. “You know security left right? You don’t have to hide forever.”

“Oh I want to hide forever.” Virgil giggled, his words laced with nervousness and fear. Logan chuckled again and raised an eyebrow, although looking more concerned. Virgil pulled his eyes away from Logan’s beautiful blue orbs, taking a deep breath and biting his bottom lip. This caused an unusual silence between the pair. When Virgil stole another glance at Logan he spotted a new look. Logan stared at the floor, looking at his nails with a frown. 

“Let’s get you back to your room…” Logan sighed once he spotted Virgil’s eyes landing on him. He still looked sadly at him, and Virgil felt an intense need to know why and to wipe that frown away. Logan stood and held out a hand to help him up but Virgil just stared at him confused.

“What’s wrong Sherlock?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. You are obviously stressed.” Logan pushed his best friend’s concern aside and still held out his hand. Virgil’s look went from concerned to sympathetic slowly, refusing to move from where he was sat. He hated when Logan bottled things up. “Virgil, honestly it doesn’t matter.” Logan still tried to convince him, but it didn’t work. Virgil found it quite funny, he was a natural debater and his persuasion skills were top-notch – but nothing could get past his best friend.

Virgil crossed his arms and smirked, getting in a more comfortable position on the stone floor and giving him a challenging glance. “Not moving until you talk.”

“Virgil...” Logan tried to argue, but eventually brought his hand to his side again and sat down. They met eyes again in complete silence, Virgil was unsure whether Logan was formulating something to say or just waiting for Virgil to give up. The curtain fell from resting against Logan’s shoulder, meaning they weren’t in complete darkness but now had some privacy from the debating team and their friends who were sharing squash and congratulating themselves on their victory. Virgil wondered why Logan was with him and not his teammates, surely his team was more important than someone hid behind the curtains. “I…” Logan finally said to break the silence, followed by a dejected sigh and a rub of his temples. “This isn’t a good time V…”

There it was again, Logan’s pink cheeks. What was it today with him imagining Logan blushing? Was he that much of a gay mess?

“Just say it Lo, you’re worrying me.” Virgil said simply. He was worrying. Were they about to break up? I mean he knew they weren’t in a romantic relationship but were they about to platonically break up? Had Logan finally got a boyfriend so they won’t spend that much time with each other anymore? Was Logan going back to England? Was he not even gay? The possibilities were endless.

“I… Haven’t finished debating…” Logan slowly uttered his words and then looked at Virgil for some reaction. Virgil only furrowed his eyebrows. “I wanted to debate a topic with you.”

“If you get me on that podium in front of everyone I swear to God I’ll murder you.” Virgil tried to sound serious and threatening but the ability to speak was being taken out of him as Logan’s cheeks got pinker and pinker and his chuckle erupted their shared curtain space again.

“No, no, don’t worry. I just wanted to debate it here.” Logan laughed, shuffling slightly closer to his friend so their knees were touching as they both sat cross-legged. Virgil gave a hum to usher him on, not expecting Logan to take a shaky deep breath before speaking again. “The topic is – shall we go on a date?”

Virgil’s breath hitched and safe to say he malfunctioned. His thoughts stopped as his heart beat, he was just an empty brain probably with error functions for eyes. His crush was asking him out on a date, and not a platonic date – a romantic date. They could cuddle, lean against each other, they could even kiss. He was half expecting Logan to say he was joking or that it was a dare based on past experience Virgil had with this sort of things.

“Virgil?” Logan’s voice echoed causing Virgil to drift slightly into real life again. “A-are you for or against the given topic?”

“For, for, definitely for.” Virgil almost shouted, his brain frantically trying to work again given the circumstances. “Wait, no, then you’d be against. I want the date, I really want the date… Oh my God…” Logan paused Virgil’s panic by resting his palm against Virgil’s cheek. The smile both of them shared was enough, they were definitely going on the date.

“How does a date at that Italian restaurant that just opened sound like?”

“Perfect…” Virgil smiled like an idiot at the man in front of him, his eyes immediately jumping to the next step and staring at Logan’s lips with a deep desire. “First… I have another debating topic?” Logan tilted his head and lifted an eyebrow, but Virgil was focused on the soft lips in front of him. “Can I kiss you?”

Logan’s position on the matter didn’t even need to be said, they just slowly leant forward before their lips came together. They fit together like lock and key, Logan reaching out to entwine his fingers with Virgil’s while they moved their lips together shyly. They didn’t want to overstep each other’s boundaries but they wanted to cherish the feeling both of them had desired since they met. Both their cheeks were red when they had to separate to breathe, and it took every ounce of self-restraint for Virgil not to immediately chase Logan’s lips again for round two. “We’re boyfriends right?” Virgil said breathlessly, just to check.

“Yeah, I don’t think we even need to debate about that.”


	7. Welcome Remy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I just realised I didn't include a Remy chapter yet. So here is when Virgil and Logan adopted their little kitten Remy.
> 
> Virgil and Logan have just graduated college (so are 22/23)
> 
> I'll include chapters with the other characters soon! (Sorry this is really short as well)

Virgil – 10:15  
Honey where are you?

Virgil – 10:30  
Is everything OK Sherlock?

Virgil – 10:40  
Can you finish grocery shopping soon? I want cuddles.

Virgil lay on the sofa, calming his breaths and staring at the phone in his hand. To say he was panicking would be an understatement. He woke up quite early, just after 10am, to find his husband no-where to be seen. And it wasn’t like he had a job to go to yet, he was starting his teaching job in September and it was only just August. It was lucky Virgil found a post-it note saying ‘getting groceries’ in Logan’s handwriting otherwise he’d be spiralling into a panic attack.

He looked around the living room absentmindedly, sighing to himself. The world was too quiet without Logan, there was nothing to do. Every activity Virgil could do to entertain himself would just exasperate how lonely he was in his small but comfy two bedroom house.

When Virgil finally heard the doorbell he almost jumped, sprinting faster than he knew he could towards who could only be his husband. Logan was there carrying grocery bags in both hands, a wide smile on his face receiving a kiss from his husband. “What took you so long Lo? I was worried you got hurt or something.” Virgil spoke quickly, automatically picking up a few bags to help. His eyes immediately went to a differently shaped black bag – but Virgil just assumed Logan might have gone book or clothes shopping too.

“I had a lot to shop for, I’m alright honey – You know how it’s your birthday tomorrow?” Logan mumbled, being more careful with this specific black bag and placing it gently on the floor. Virgil nodded, raising an eyebrow as he emptied the groceries into the cupboards, fridge and freezer. “What’s your opinion on early birthday presents?”

“Well, I’d prefer them on the day otherwise I get worried I’m a financial burden.” Virgil answered honestly, he was glad he could talk about his anxieties with his husband – even the illogical ones. “Why? Did you get me something?” Virgil looked over to his husband again, who was now weirdly sitting on the floor in front of the black bag. His movements and voice seemed more gentle than usual.

“Yes, and it’s not particularly something that can wait until tomorrow.” Logan’s voice quietly, he slowly opened the black bag by a zip with an even softer smile. “Can you come here baby?”

Virgil nodded and dropped the handful of food he held in his hand, slowly sitting opposite his husband and looking at him curiously for a moment before following his eyes and looking inside the bag. The bag was dark, Virgil could hardly see what was in it until he realised a small, moving, grey ball. Logan began to call the grey ball forward, speaking quietly to it, and then it became visible.

“Wait – you got me a cat?” Virgil said, his voice barely above a whisper as Logan carried the kitten onto his lap. The cat had the softest, fluffiest grey fur and the biggest grey-blue eyes Virgil had ever seen. When they grey eyes eventually looked up at Virgil’s face the cat meowed, and that was enough to break Virgil into a smile. “Aww… They’re adorable. Are we keeping them?”

“I know how you always wanted a cat of your own, although this is our cat. The shelter called him Remy.” Logan’s smile still hadn’t disappeared as he held him husband’s hand, stroking the kitten with his free hand causing the fluff ball to settle.

“So this is our son?” Virgil chuckled. “Really Logan? We’ve just married and you’ve already adopted a kid?” He joked, his taunts leading into a kiss that he ever so enjoyed. He would never get enough of the warmth Logan brought into his life. “I shotgun Paps. You can get Dad.” Virgil said again as they separated their lips, his hand still on his husband’s cheek and a smile still wide on both of their faces. Remy meowed again to signify he was still there and played with Virgil’s dangling hoodie string.

“Sure, I’ll be Dad. Just as long as you never get rid of that adorable smile.”


	8. Patton's First Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton meets a kid new to Sanders Academy High, and realises love isn't as simple as fairytales said.
> 
> \----
> 
> This was a request - requests are open if anyone has a one shot idea (this is my first one shot book so I'm not great at it yet). And yes, I continued with the idea that Patton is asexual. If you want more coming out stories or more chapters about Max Kohen just say!

“Jammy dodger!” Patton heard a shout across the corridor, causing him to turn his head and laugh. His friendship group was calling him over by the nickname they created – his surname was Crofters, crofters was a brand of jam, therefore he was ‘jammy dodger’. It was nice to have such a tight friendship group, they were all in cooking class together so had common interests and Patton didn’t know what he’d do without his friends.

His friends were sitting in their homeroom, Mr Golding’s class. It was summer term, the weather was a perfect temperature. Patton wore a simple flannel button up with cuffed jeans and white trainers, his curly hair straightened as he often saw his Paps do. He said goodbye to his older brothers and gave them both a hug, the end of junior year was dawning on them and they were stressed about what post-high school programme to choose. Patton knew they needed all the love they could get, and he was happy to give it.

Patton sat with his close friends, they were discussing what to bake in cooking class for a history teacher’s birthday coming up (and Mr Crofters’ birthday in a few weeks, although they were sure Patton was already planning an entire meal – which he was). He was helping with the conversation by suggesting decorations, he was best at decorating food and making it look aesthetically pleasing. One of Patton’s friends had brought lollipops to class and was giving them out; Patton happily took a strawberry one and started sucking on it waiting for Mr Golding to bother speaking up.

“This is class 4A!” Patton heard his best friend, Jahmil, cheer as he walked into the classroom. Patton had known Jahmil forever, and that wasn’t even an exaggeration. They either met the first day of kindergarten or the infant summer camp in pre-school and constantly bickered over which it was. The sound of Jahmil’s voice caused Patton to turn quickly, and then pause his thoughts.

A few steps behind Jahmil was a student Patton didn’t know, and he knew everyone, shyly walking into the classroom and looking around. The new person wore a simple oversized shirt and sweatpants combo – but the fashion sense didn’t explain why Patton felt the need to stare. Maybe it was the wavy, shoulder length black hair that looked so shiny and touchable, or maybe the chocolate brown eyes examining the room, or the birthmark just below the person’s ear – a slight darker colour to their olive skin tone. Usually with new people Patton felt the intense need to introduce himself and strike a conversation, especially if they looked as stressed as this person was, but this time he was stuck on his seat and just… staring.

“And lastly, this is Patton Crofters.” Patton was brought into reality hearing Jahmil saying his name, trying to form a sweet smile and wave like he usually does. The new person gave a small smile and two finger salute. Such a unique movement, maybe that’s why Patton was staring – this person was unique. Jahmil turned to the new person. “Do you want to introduce yourself or…”

The new person bit their lip and looked down, a slight redness on their cheeks as they took a deep breath. Patton felt sorry for them, shyness was so embarrassing. “What’s your name?” Patton chirped quickly, his true smile coming back while the person flinched and their eyes widened.

“Po-uh-no-Max… Sorry.” The person said, their face becoming redder by the second. They eventually took a deep breath and spoke again. “Max Kohen, yeah. That’s me.” Max laughed awkwardly, the giggle causing Patton to giggle too without much thought. Max then looked at Patton again, as if expecting another question.

“Um… Just a formality for everyone, but what are your pronouns?”

“He/him.” Max said quickly, avoiding everyone’s eyes except for Patton as if he was being interrogated. Patton tried to calm him with a small smile and offered a nearby chair. Max sat, took an apple lollipop from the desk the group were crowded around, and then kept his eyes on the table spotting all the rainbow and other pride flags. Everyone around the group, apart from Patton, began to talk amongst themselves. Patton wanted to make sure Max was fully settled before beginning a conversation. “Oh… I found the gays.”

“Is something wrong with that?” Patton tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. Max flinched again and immediately looked guilty.

“What? No! I’m…” Max paused for a moment, sighing quietly and looking away towards one of Patton’s friend’s genderqueer flags on his school bag. “I’m trans – FtM – AFAB – yeah, whatever the terminology is.”

“So you’re a guy?” Patton smiled, facing Max fully. Max looked confused but slowly nodded. “You’re a guy. No need to further categorise it unless you want to.”

Max nodded again, looking down to his hands that were on his lap. That’s when the features of Max were visible to Patton clearly. Small hazel flecks in his eyes, long eyelashes, clear skin. He seemed like a doll – a perfectly attractive and delicate looking china doll. Patton felt such a strong need to hug him that was difficult to hold back.

“I’m just worried.” Max spoke again, taking another breath making Patton realise how soft Max’s pink lips looked. “My name’s still – my dead name on the registers. It’s just embarrassing – it’s a small little thing and I shouldn’t be worried because it’s only a small thing and… Sorry I’m rambling aren’t I?”

Patton smiled softly, sucking his lollipop again and placing a hand on Max’s arm to reassure him. “I know a teacher that would help, if you want it.” Max met eyes with Patton again with a confused glance. “My Dad’s a math teacher here. And he literally has a whole database of students with different identities to the registers. And if students want to, he emails their other teachers to notify them of the change – only the accepting ones of course.”

“What’s your surname again?”

“Crofters. My Dad’s Mr Crofters, I can take you to his classroom during homeroom if you want.” Patton felt his cheeks heating up watching the small glimmer of hope in Max’s eyes. What was happening to him? He didn’t know – and it was confusing. But anyway, Patton knew he could easily excuse himself and Max from class and walk to his father’s classroom. Logan didn’t mind giving his sons hugs just before classes – he was getting very sappy now Roman and Remus were thinking about college and/or moving out.

“That would… actually be great. He’s my math teacher according to the schedule.” Max said with a giggle, and Patton had to gasp quietly. It was as if they were attached by the hip already, and Max could control every movement Patton made. 

Then he realised, shit, this was a crush.

*****

“Everyone got their bags and books and everything?” Logan said, turning on his car. Patton was in the passenger seat beside him, on his phone, and the twins were in the back talking amongst themselves after nodding. “Patton? Everything alright?” Logan whispered, paying attention to a pink arriving on his son’s cheek.

“Um… Am I straight or gay Dad?” Patton said quickly, looking over at his dad as he started driving. Logan looked in thought for a moment and then spoke gently.

“There’s a lot more than those two identities – it’s only up to you what you are.” Logan said calmly, giving a reassuring smile that Patton was grateful for. “At the same time – there’s no pressure to go into a little box.”

“When did you come out Dad?” Roman chirped from the back, he had been listening to the conversation the entire time while trying to learn his lines for theatre. Logan looked thoughtful again with his eyes on the road. Patton finally looked away from his phone. His Dads had never really told the boys about their coming out stories.

“I don’t think I particularly did. When I turned 16 I decided I had no reason to limit myself to the idea of only dating girls. From then on I categorised myself as ‘open to the idea’, a month of two after I met a guy who wasn’t your father and telling my parents I had a boyfriend was the only coming out I did.” Logan smiled, remembering his past life in England that felt like ages ago.

“So are you gay or bi?” Remus eventually mumbled, his legs were on his twin brother’s lap and he was doing homework on his laptop. Again, Logan and Virgil had never really explained their different identities completely to their sons.

Logan shrugged as a response. “Well, I started calling myself gay as soon as I met Virgil. Once we started dating I felt as though I could never turn away from him and be interested in anyone else other than him. And that hasn’t changed. So if anything I’m Virgil-sexual instead of homosexual.”

“Or you’re just gay for your husband.” Remus smirked allowing the rest of the family to chuckle. Logan let out a happy sigh and focused completely on driving. There was a silence while Patton processed his feelings.

“Dad – You remember Max from homeroom this morning?” Patton looked at his father who nodded. “What if I’m Max-romantic? Or do I have to be Max-sexual to love him?”

“Sexual attraction isn’t necessary for love Pat.” Logan said, the most soft and earnest he had heard his father’s voice. He felt automatically soothed like a baby listening to a lullaby. “You can be Max-romantic if you want to.”

Patton silenced for a moment, spotting Remus scowl and give his brother a scrunched up 10 dollars from his pocket. He chuckled a little, just looking in front of him and thinking about Max Kohen.

“Thanks Dad.”


	9. The Search for Food

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy themed chapter!
> 
> Sorry this took so long whoever requested this - I started writing this and then my cat got quite sick so I had to focus on spoiling my cat rather than writing about a fictional one. He just had a high temperature but he's fine now.
> 
> The timeline of this could be any. Just Roman and Remus are still in high school. All that matters is Remy.
> 
> TW - Is cats a trigger? There's also a lot of mentions of Remy eating and asking for food and having a lot of food but he's a cat so I don't know if it's TW worthy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes, I did name the Crofters puppy Beck after the psychologist that first theorised cognitive distortions (and also an important psychologist in studying depression and anxiety)

Remy stretched, he was lying on the sofa in a ball but now he was awake. And he was hungry. Once he pounced off the sofa he looked around to think of someone to bother. Logan and Virgil had their door shut, Logan was snoring relatively loudly and Remy was surprised he didn’t wake anyone else. 

He scratched the door of the next room – Patton’s room he believed. The door opened from his weight to allow Remy to stroll in. The lump on his bed was Patton, lying on his side in a ball. The entirety of his room was light blue and white – teddies galore on his bed so Remy couldn’t easily pounce. He tried anyway, grumbling and swatting a teddy that almost made him fall off the bed, before sitting right on Patton’s shoulder staring down at him.

The lump didn’t budge for a few minutes. Then Patton quickly turned onto his back, making Remy fall back onto the bed with a grumble and almost hiss. Yet he wasn’t giving up yet. He climbed onto Patton’s chest and glared again, trying to think of another plan. 

He knew one plan that always worked on Virgil. Virgil was a light sleeper however unlike this amalgamation of fluffy cloud personality. But slowly Remy inches closer, his breath erupting around the cat’s face – it smelled heavily of garlic as the family had spicy spaghetti and garlic mushrooms. But Remy persevered, opening his mouth and leaning towards the teenager’s button nose. And then he bit.

Patton still didn’t move, he didn’t wake up. It was time to try someone else.

The next bedroom was Roman and Remus’. And they sounded awake, there was a quiet whispering between the two occupants of the room. Remy tried to open the door but failed only making a quiet thumping sound. The door still didn’t open but the voices silenced. After one or two meows luckily the door was opened by Roman. Unfortunately Roman loved ‘cuddles’ – the bane of Remy’s existence.

But he knew he had to put up with it to be fed. Roman was laughing and cradling him like a baby, still talking to Remus but sounding a lot happier and louder. That was a good thing – it meant everyone else would wake up and hopefully at least someone would feed him. Remus was sat on the floor opposite a mirror painting his face with a weird black powder. Remy tried to eat it once – it wasn’t fun. He was sick in Logan’s coffee cup and taken to the vet.

“I think he wants to be placed on a bed bro.” Remus laughed, looking at struggling Remy through the mirror. Roman agreed and placed Remy on his bed, continuing to stroke the grey Persian even though all the cat wanted was to ingest some meat.

The door opened, making Remy burst into action and wrap himself around the adult’s legs. “Boys… I know it’s 11am but do you have to be so loud?” Virgil yawned, rubbing his eyes with a soft smile. The twins apologised, laughing at the infinity circle Remy was tracing around the floor. Virgil looked down at his cat and sighed. “Right – It’s breakfast time.”

Remy walked down the stairs with three members of his family. Virgil immediately got a fresh sachet out of the cupboards while he waited by his food bowl. The food was placed in the bowl, some kind of fish like salmon or tuna, along with a cat designed milk that Remy enjoyed. Virgil then went upstairs again, and slowly the entire house got louder and Remy knew he was in for a chaotic day.

“G’mornin Remy!” Emile screamed, picking Remy up and therefore dragging him away from the meal he had worked so hard to get. This made Remy grumble and hiss while Logan ran over and picked the smallest (and most annoying) child up. “Dad! Can’t I play with Remy?” Emile squeaked with the high pitched voice that caused adrenaline to run through his veins. He liked the child when he wasn’t so loud; a lot of the time Remy was asleep and the feeling of small hands on his back actually felt quite nice. Morning feeding was needed to be quiet though.

But after all the food was eaten and the bowl was licked clean Remy felt safe to join his family on the sofa. The rest of the house was there, Virgil and Logan were cuddled up together with Emile by his feet – Patton was also sat on the floor with an incredibly sugary chocolate cereal and the twins were on the other end of the sofa flinging cereal at each other. Logan was trying to stop them. But Logan was bad at disciplining his cat, let alone two chaotic teenage boys that he loved with his whole heart and more.

Remy crawled into a ball in the centre of the sofa, the exact same position and place he was when he woke up in the morning. And he’d probably stay in that position until lunch time when he’d be hungry again. After around half an hour he could smell cat treats in front of his nose which he sleepily swatted into his mouth. This was his heaven.

“Daad! Where’s Beck?” Patton cheered and stood waking Remy up from his almost slumber. Emile ran off and giggled, disappearing for a few minutes. It was silence again for a few minutes but not long enough to sleep. Before Remy could slumber his final family member – a black fluffy cockapoo puppy – jumped into the room frantically barking and chasing Emile with a tugging toy in his hand. 

That was one of the craziest things about his first owners. First a bunch of kids randomly appeared and were pestering him – Virgil and Logan didn’t bother their cat that much apart from when Remy wanted to be fed or a warm lap to sleep on. Then, just as he realised these smaller and louder beings were here to stay, they decided to adopt this jumpy and loud puppy that followed them around everywhere, barked at everything, and chased Remy when he just wanted to sit and clean himself. The dog had to sleep in Logan’s study as he was so chaotic.

Remy wouldn’t trade it for anything else however, and not just because the family had an infinite supply of quality and expensive cat food. They were nice and warm and loved him – he hadn’t experienced such love before being in a shelter as a kitten. He was happy to spend the rest of his years with these weirdos – as long as there was food.


	10. Twin Arguments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus and Roman have an argument, resulting in Remus rethinking his future. - This was also a request and sorry it's so long.
> 
> As explained in the chapter - Emile is in the last year of elementary school (9-10 years old), Patton's the last year of high school (17-18 years old) and Roman and Remus are adults with Roman in his second year of college (19-20 years old). This means Logan and Virgil are early 30s.
> 
> Also I have no idea how American colleges work and when normal high schoolers apply - I'm just assuming it's the same as Britain where you look around colleges in junior year and make your decision in senior year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bounce Back is a real charity, I don't know if it's just a British thing, but I'd recommend to check them out if you're wanting to donate to a charity. What they do is really good.
> 
> Their website is bouncebackproject.org

Virgil was up and getting coffee and 3am. That wasn’t unusual. He was often awake way earlier than he wanted to – and he did have work beginning at 6am so it wasn’t so detrimental to his health that he was injecting caffeine into his system. He also had things to pass the time, Emile was preparing to graduate Sanders Elementary and Patton was on his way to graduating high school – so as well as entertaining Virgil with anxious thoughts he also quite enjoyed being up at 3am sitting at the dining room table and preparing forms for Emile to start middle school and lists upon lists on how to travel and pack for Patton’s college goodbye. Some of these times Logan ended up joining him. He was also reluctant on letting the boys grow up so fast. The pair were lucky Remus was still living at home. He had decided to avoid college for now until he felt better mentally – and of course his fathers were going to support that. Roman, on the other hand, was in his second year at Pace University in New York living his best life.

Virgil heard a hard trudging down the stairs and looked up, spotting Remus going down the stairs in his black dressing gown. Virgil smiled at him softly. “Ready for work at 6?” He watched Remus walk into the kitchen. Remus entertained himself in his mental health gap year by working as a barista at Virgil’s coffee shop – Bean There, Espresso That – and quite enjoyed the time out. 

“Don’t talk to me.” Remus growled, and Virgil chuckled thinking his son was just tired. He continued to look through all the paperwork he was organising – Patton was still deciding between going to NYU and University of Colorado. Both needed paperwork to be done by his adoptive parents. After a while Remus sat opposite him, sipping coffee and glaring at the table.

“Are you alright Re?” Virgil said gently, giving a concerned look as Remus started to look less tired and more upset. Remus nodded so he knew to leave it.

“Does Pat actually want to go to college?” Remus eventually asking, making Virgil look up and think for a moment. He certainly had nothing against it, and he wanted to be an elementary school teacher. He was in fact excited to move away from home like his brother and explore a whole new world. Although he knew once he’d be away for the first semester he’d want to return every Christmas, Easter and summer as Roman had that experience the school year previous. “He’s not being forced right? He knows he can just stay here and not go to college at all. That’s a possibility.” Remus spoke quickly, as if thinking through his racing thoughts.

“Remus. He has you to look up to too, he knows all his possibilities. He just wants to choose college.” Virgil smiled, but Remus didn’t respond happily. He automatically expected that this sudden mood change was not due to tiredness, and he automatically gave a softer look. Remus still looked away. Virgil turned back to his papers and sighed. “Right – um – how about we get showered and dressed and then watch a movie together before work? I saw a new horror movie on Netflix.”

Remus nodded without saying a word and walked back upstairs. After packing all the forms away Virgil also followed and went into a separate bathroom.

*****

Virgil was sipping his coffee, his laptop was turned on to look incognito in the coffee shop he was Head of Marketing for. That’s how he preferred doing his job, rather than being cooped up in an office in the city and analysing the statistics for the coffee shop from a distance with complex math – he enjoyed getting a coffee and watching the customers. He analysed their reactions, where they were likely to go and what they were likely to order and changed the shop accordingly. And it worked, the new coffee place was making more profit that some shops that had been on the same high street for years. He especially enjoyed today. It was Puppy Play Day, where a separate part of the coffee shop opened specifically for dogs and their owners with plenty of discounts and dog-edible coffee themed treats.

The owner of the shop, Thomas, was wondering in and out of the Dog Room sighing and mumbling to himself. It was Remus’ shift to work in the Dog Room, and he wasn’t in the best of moods. Usually he loved working with the pets that would visit on pet discount days, every worker did, but Virgil knew he wasn’t going to be happy at anything today. Virgil stood and walked towards the owner. “Thomas, how’s Remus doing?” Virgil asked once the two had reached the safety of the staff room. Thomas let out a large groan before speaking.

“He’s zoning out all the time. I get that won’t be his fault but – ugh.” Thomas mumbled, answering an email he left open on his computer before turning back to Virgil. “Do you mind talking to him? He can skip this shift if he wants to – I just can’t have him ignoring customers that came specifically for our USP.”

Virgil nodded, quickly turning and walking into the Dog Room. He loved being in the Dog Room, he often took Beck to work purely to sit in there and watch all the cute dogs play together. There was the low hum of owners talking, but at the corner of the room Remus stood behind the counter – staring at the wood design he was cleaning my wiping a soapy sponge into a circle. He definitely didn’t look right.

“Everything alright kiddo?” Virgil said. Usually Logan was the best at confronting what this would count as – ‘bad behaviour’. He got that from being a teacher but of course was more subtle about it with his own kids. This was the first time Virgil had to confront less desirable actions himself, but he was glad it was Remus that needed talking to. Remus and Virgil always had a special bond; Remus struggling with depression and Virgil, while still having it, considering his era of bad symptoms to be behind him. Remus only shrugged and continued to wipe the counter in a circle. “Want to talk about it?” Remus shook his head. Virgil sighed and looked to his son’s phone on the counter – usually playing music when Remus was upset – but this time it was off.

Virgil grabbed his son’s phone, turning it on. Remus quickly turned and glared. Virgil knew all of his son’s passwords in case he needed to use his son’s phone while the kid was unavailable, it was a trusted thing and Virgil hardly needed to use it now the twins had graduated. This was a reason why he had access to the passwords, to calm Remus down. Remus scowled and quickly grabbed the phone as it was unlocked though.

“Fine, I’ll talk.” Remus mumbled, turning his phone off again and putting it in his pocket. He was silent for another minute, switching the soapy sponge for a wet cloth. “I want to go to college.”

“Oh…” Virgil tilted his head, trying to not sound too surprised. In truth he was surprised. Remus seemed happy working instead of learning, happier than he was in high school as there was apparently less stress. Just last night he was asking about getting a small apartment close to the high street so he could carry on working at the coffee shop while living away from home and gaining independence. “Well that’s great you think you’re ready! We can start looking after your shift – or have you looked at colleges already?”

“I want to go to a good posh school like Yale. And major in something smart like engineering.” Remus said, no passion in his voice as he was saying his ‘plan’ – only what sounded like anger. Virgil’s smile dropped trying to think through what to say to give him a reality check.

“Maybe don’t aim for the stars just yet, there are plenty of other universities, and why engineering? You hated math in high school.”

Remus glared as a response, anger rising in his facial expression. Still, Virgil tried to explain his thoughts logically. “Why don’t you major in something you’re definitely passionate about? You liked criminology in high school and you still watch true crime videos – why don’t you major in that or sociology? That would be a good fit.”

“That’s not smart.” Remus said simply. “Want coffee?”

Virgil sighed. This situation was new, Remus believing he needed to be smart. It wasn’t a struggle Virgil hadn’t heard of – Logan was a perfectionist so also had the desire to be smarter throughout college and Virgil loved distracting his soon-to-be-husband back then by dragging him away from homework for a walk around campus or movie night. “There’s no need to be the smartest person in existence.” Virgil began to say gently, but he was ignored.

“I do. Everyone views me as dumb.”

“Who views you as dumb?” Virgil said almost letting the anger rise in himself. He looked around the small room – wondering if it was a customer who would soon be thrown out the shop and banned from ever returning if they insulted his son.

Remus finished the cleaning and turned away, refusing to respond to any more of Virgil’s questions. Eventually Virgil had to give up – walking out to the main area of the coffee shop and taking another sip of his still hot coffee. He sat in his chair, staring at his laptop blankly before looking at his phone. There was one person that would know why Remus was feeling upset, even though they lived at complete opposite sides of the country – Roman Crofters.

Virgil – 7:32   
Hey kiddo you free?

Roman – 7:33   
Yeah paps for like 10 minutes – what’s up?

Virgil – 7:33  
Remus is acting strange and talking about college  
You know what’s wrong with him?

There was no response at the other side of the phone for a while. Virgil sighed, assuming Roman was in a class and had to turn his phone off to not disturb his study. And honestly he was all for that, it was important for Roman to study both for his future and his mental health so he was fine if responding back to texts in non-dangerous situations became a lesser priority. Instead of worrying he turned on Spotify and updated his and Logan’s shared playlist that they often listened to together at night or put on to add background noise during the day. There were just a lot of small sentiments Virgil enjoyed.

Roman – 7:36  
Uh yeah Re and I had an argument last night. I told him about a stupid kid in my English class, they reminded me of him because it was a really funny joke but he took it the wrong way.

Virgil bit his lip in thought before responding. This was the first time he could remember the twins properly arguing since he met them, and they never mentioned having arguments before. Maybe it was the distance between them that meant they couldn’t make up as easily – but they weren’t even close to any sort of argument until now.

Virgil – 7:38  
Hey it’s OK. Maybe try calling him when you can? He’s at work at the moment but I’ll make sure he picks up the phone.

Roman – 7:38  
Thanks Dad. I’ll try.

*****

It was 2pm and Remus decided it was best to take a walk. He had finished work a few hours ago, but his mind couldn’t stop thinking about his argument with his brother. Did his own twin really think he was stupid? It wasn’t his fault he wasn’t cut for college. He’s going to do more in his life than just working in Pap’s coffee shop – wasn’t he? There was so much to think about…

Get yourself back into the real world. Right now, Remus was doing groceries for his family and walking around town. It was a good distraction – and he’d gotten some good makeup sets to distract himself with later next time he felt like he was about to cry. 

He wished he could listen to some music but he was scared to turn his phone on. He didn’t want to face his phone screen – a selfie with Roman the night before his twin headed to college. He remembered how he felt the night after Roman’s big move to college, it was his first night – ever – without his twin brother. He cuddled his green teddy all night, keeping his eyes on the pictures of the two of them together. And ever since then he’d had the picture of him and his brother as his lock screen. That hurt especially in times like this.

Eventually he caved in and turned his phone on, putting his earphones in and turning on some heavy rock. Almost immediately though the music stopped and the screen showed ‘Roman’ with a massive picture of his brother.

You know what, fuck it.

“Hello.” Remus said sternly, starting to walk again and throwing the bag he was holding over his shoulder. He could sense Roman trying to formulate something to say. “What is it dickweed?”

“I’m sorry bro, you know I am, it was a stupid argument last night.” His brother’s voice echoed through the phone, his voice clear without any background noise. Usually when they called, which was rarely as it was only when they missed each other, Roman had lots of background music or voices from exploring the big city either by himself or with friends. But now it was silent, Roman truly cared about apologising. “Should I ask Dad to buy a plane ticket? I have some money in my account so I’ll come home right away if you want to smack me for being an idiot.”

Remus couldn’t help but let a chuckle escape him while his brother was frantically trying to apologise. Neither were the best at apologising ever, let alone to each other. Once Roman heard the chuckle he automatically stopped and laughed too. “Just take me out on a date honey-bun. Your brother deserves to be spoilt.”

“Of course bro.” Roman agreed, laughing again a moment later. Then the two talked, about anything, updating each other on their lives and their plans for the coming weekend. Remus also told Roman how their little brothers were doing, Roman hated not being close to them as even years later both of them still thought of their brothers as more their own kids rather than their brothers. When Remus got home he placed the groceries in the kitchen – not even pausing his conversation and walking upstairs. Virgil was in the kitchen making coffee, his smile widening hearing the twins joking and laughing together again – even through the phone.

While Remus was talking he turned on his laptop, googling some weird debate the twins were having on whether chicken could be served rare (as Roman had cooked himself a rare-cooked chicken for lunch). There were a few ads popping up on the websites he found – he didn’t pay attention to many of them apart from one.

“The Bounce Back Project…” Remus mumbled, clicking on the advert and looking around the website it linked to. It was a charity, helping ex-offenders that had finished their prison sentence to educate themselves and get into a job they’d want and love – as well as giving mental health support. Roman realised the silence and asked if everything was alright. “Huh – yeah – fine. There’s this charity that looks interesting.”

“Huh – Well you can always donate to it.” Roman mumbled, sounding more relaxed now he didn’t have to worry about his brother (he believed the college student was taking the time to write an essay for one of his classes).

“No…” Remus didn’t even realise he responded, as he was searching through the jobs that the charity offered. They were mainly jobs that involved you teaching ex-offenders how to paint or bricklay – working in construction. Maybe he could offer his services as a barista – even if it’s just volunteering. Either way he formatted and sent the email to the charity and continued his conversation with his brother until late into the night.

The next day Remus got a response, they’d be happy to expand their charity by teaching ex-offenders how to make coffee and other skills. Remus was hired – and he had a job. Little did he know it would be a job he’d be passionate about for years to come and end up touring the country with research into ex-offender behaviour to plug the charity. There was no need for college after all.


	11. Mr Janus Jackson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janus has a day like every Monday.
> 
> There's swearing in this because Janus - the story takes place the school year before the Ray-Felizes are adopted.

“If they tell me I have to deal with middle schoolers I will kill a bitch…” Janus snapped to himself, parking his car and turning on his phone in order to check his emails. It was a Monday, and Janus hated Mondays, but even more so when he got a surprise extra lesson with middle schoolers last Friday and was afraid of the same happening again. He hadn’t had much sleep either, spent way too much time swiping on Tinder to find ‘the one’ – and failed of course. But now he didn’t really mind too much, he loved his career and how he could get away with anything. He also wasn’t the type of person for long-term monogamous commitment.

He got into the school just in time for his first lesson so couldn’t talk to his best friend before classes. But he did have time to bring donuts – not for his classes but for himself to eat throughout the day. First class was one of his freshman drama classes though – which was a fun class… No he definitely won’t willingly give his donuts.

“Sit down bitches!” Janus shouted as he walked into class, already eating his first donut. The freshmen immediately sat down, still chatting amongst themselves. It was almost summer so the freshmen weren’t scared of high school anymore, which also meant they didn’t exactly listen on the first command. Janus sat by his desk and turned on the lesson he was preparing today. “Right – let’s do some Hamlet Act 1 Scene 2. Get your scripts and stand.”

The students did as their teacher said, chatting amongst themselves for a few minutes. When they all settled again Janus smiled and turned to the monologue, but not before a student – the kind of nerd Logan would love – interrupted.

“Sir! Aren’t we meant to have that quiz today that you forgot to bring last week?”

And he forgot again, not that he could tell his students that. He had been told by the higher staff at the school many times that he needed to maintain his professional, academic demeanour and therefore couldn’t admit he fucked up again. He nodded, thinking of a fool-proof plan. “After you do this.”

The freshmen worked in pairs through the scene, where Hamlet was talking about how much of a hopeless romantic his mother was. Freshmen were never the best performers, especially with Shakespeare – well, apart from Roman Ray-Feliz. An auburn headed freshman who was obsessed with theatre and was very good at acting. It was his element, but it’s not that rare for a student every once in a while to appear and be obviously destined for stardom. But Roman was unique for some reason. He seemed important.

After a few minutes of watching his students, specifically Roman, Janus decided to initiate his plan. He had seen a dodgy looking lightbulb earlier in the day when he was walking to class, it was sparking and sizzling and looked like it needed desperately to be replaced. The staff wouldn’t mind if he alerted them would they? Because he had a very specific way to tell them.

He faced the light bulb, locating a nearby fire alarm. He stared at the bulb with acted shock, before pulling the alarm quickly to make a loud, piercing beeping sound. Janus immediately ran back to his classroom and went through the fire drill routine to take them outside. The kids were laughing and excited, knowing they’d miss the rest of the lesson – and therefore their quiz – because of this sudden emergency.

All the classes stood in line on the school field, chatting to each other. Logan had a senior class, who were silent and on their phones – fully used to this. Logan was looking at his watch and doing his register in between telling his students to put their phone away. Eventually all the registers were finished and the two teachers could chat.

“Did you forget to mark homework?” Logan said with a small smile, whispering so no-one else could hear him. Janus was lucky his friend was compliant with his friend’s mischief. 

“No! There was a dangerous light bulb beside Mr Herman’s classroom!” Janus exclaimed, hand on his heart, leaning back in exaggeration. Logan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Fine… I forgot to prepare a blocking quiz over the weekend.” Logan chuckled with that explanation. He wasn’t the type to tell him he ‘really shouldn’t do that’ and ‘put education first’ like other teachers do – even though those were the mottos he lived by himself. “I had this really good date! He didn’t want a second date – but it was still really good.”

“I don’t want to hear about your sex life while stood in front of your freshmen Jan – we’ll talk at lunch time.”

Janus didn’t get into trouble for pulling the fire alarm as technically he had a valid reason as the light bulb could be a danger to students. The lessons started again, but not with enough time for Mr Jackson could give his freshmen a test. He had until the end of the week to create something and told Logan to remind him by Thursday to make one. Soon it became lunch, when Logan and Janus ate lunch together.

When Janus walked into his friend’s math classroom the teacher was picking up pieces of paper from the floor. Janus looked confused, making Logan sigh. “The Ray-Feliz twins… Remus won’t stop throwing pieces of paper at his brother.” He said simply. Janus also helped picking up any small pieces of paper he could find. He didn’t have many students throw things across the classroom – ever – but he definitely had kids passing notes. He opened each piece of paper as he saw it, soon realising every piece had a letter. 

“Hey, give me all the pieces of paper.” Janus walked over to his friend, sitting at a desk and placing all the letters in front of him. It was obviously an A5 piece of paper than was written on by Remus and then ripped to be placed together again. For a few minutes the two teachers had light conversation and tried to restore the message placed in front of them. The message revealed itself to be a simple sentence: ‘PAT IS SICK’. “Who’s Pat?”

Logan shrugged, eating the sandwich that was lovingly crafted by his husband. “There’s a Patrick in the class… Isn’t sick the same as cool?”

“I don’t think the youth say that anymore Lo.” Janus murmured, making Logan sigh and shake his head. He had complained several times before that Remus was the type of student that failed to listen. Janus counted himself lucky he only dealt with one Ray-Feliz twin. Dealing with both, especially at the same time, seemed like hell to the teacher who truly cared about helping them succeed. 

If Janus had a genie he would ask for three things: a committed lover, someone to do his tests and mark his homework for him, and for the Ray-Feliz twins to be able to focus on school and succeed as much as their two teachers knew they could.


	12. The Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan proposes to Virgil - can't believe I didn't write this earlier.
> 
> \-----------
> 
> Timeline takes between summer semester of Virgil and Logan's third year (first part) and early autumn/late summer of their fourth year (second part). So they're around 20-21.  
> (Also because of maths this means Roman and Remus are around 9-10 and Patton is around 7-8 -- They aren't in this one-shot but ageing is weird - Would you like a one-shot of younger Ray-Felizes?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I read a lot of proposal one-shots where one of them just proposes without talking to the other person before? Is that romantic?
> 
> I don't know if I were ever to have a partner propose to me or them propose to me I would rather talk about it beforehand and agree it's a good idea - plus I think it's extra romantic that way and you get an extra dose of **healthy communication**.

This was perfect. Everything was quiet in Logan’s room, it was dark outside with the moon shining into his room and the small lampshade beside his bed was glowing a soft blue. But even better than all of that Logan had his boyfriend lying on his chest, breathing slowly and keeping his eyes on Logan’s laptop that was playing some cheesy rom-com. Everything was as it should be.

Logan couldn’t imagine being without this moment of peace. The room – and therefore the bed – wasn’t really that big but it was still comfy. His room could only fit a bed, a wardrobe and a desk with a chair. He loved the room though – it was much better than when he had to share with a random Californian straight party animal he never talked to. Instead it was almost his last year of college, and he lived with his boyfriend (in a separate room, although there were many sleepovers like this one) and three other friends.

Virgil turned his head and looked up at his boyfriend, a smile creeping on his face. Not large enough to be the big goofy one both men usually pulled when the other was being nonsensically cute but just one that showed the other the comfortableness and joy they felt in the situation.

“What are you looking at?” Logan smirked, kissing his boyfriend on the forehead and speaking with the most soft and gentle voice he could muster. Virgil reached up and stroked his cheek. His pupils were blown to the maximum and not just because of the dark.

“You. My boyfriend of two and a half years.” Virgil said in return, also whispering even though both boyfriends knew their flatmates were already fast asleep and knew not to listen in on their ‘sleepovers’ anyway. Logan chuckled and held his boyfriend’s hand, turning back to the movie even though he would happily spend the rest of the night staring at the man cuddled up to him. As said previously, everything was perfect as far as Logan was concerned.

After around twenty minutes Virgil began to stir, grabbing onto his boyfriend tighter and leaning in closer – even though that was impossible. Then he got distracted from the movie, instead wanting to look at Logan. That bit was normal, the only difference was it wasn’t a calm stare he wanted to initiate. Instead, as well as the grabbing and clutching Virgil was quickly alternating between looking at the laptop then at Logan, then at his hands that were trying to perform this closeness manoeuvre. Logan knew what this clingy behaviour meant like the back of his hand, his boyfriend was nervous about something.

“It’s alright.” Logan spoke gently again, kissing his boyfriend’s forehead and ruffling his hair, avoiding eye contact as stopping the activity due to Virgil’s illogical stress would only cause embarrassment for said nervous character later on.

“What’s going to happen to us when we graduate Sherlock?”

That question caught Logan off-guard slightly. He hadn’t given that idea much thought, he assumed everything would be much the same. He wasn’t moving back to the UK for any reason and wouldn’t expect Virgil to emigrate as he wanted to stay close to his family. The pair had talked about getting a house in the town near where his parents were and living just the two of them where Logan would get a teaching job – but they hadn’t actually looked at houses yet. Nothing was going to ‘happen to them’. To calm his boyfriend’s nerves Logan decided to answer that question with positives. “Well, a lot more of this.” Logan laughed stroking his boyfriend’s hair who was now gazing up at him. “And not having to worry about flatmates hearing us… love each other. And no worrying about forcing me to leave my maths homework so we could cuddle at 2am. All good things.”

“And we’d be boyfriends?”

Logan paused for a moment, glancing a confused look at his boyfriend and trying to read his mind no matter how illogical that was. Did he really think they were going to break up just because they weren’t going to be college students anymore? “Yes… Honey of course! I love you more than anything and anyone and you know that. Graduating college won’t change that.”

Virgil, who was completely ignoring the movie at this point as was Logan, didn’t remove his slight frown and straddled his boyfriend – cupping his face and giving him a kiss. It was the kind of kiss that made both of them erupt in warmth and close their eyes to experience the utter euphoria. The kiss only lasted a few seconds but once they separated Logan hummed a smile. Virgil uttered two words that changed the pair’s lives forever. 

“Just boyfriends?”

Logan sat up and held his boyfriend against him, feeling a lot more awake now and realising he was dawning the big goofy grin. “You want to get married?” Logan gasped, holding both his husband’s hands and restraining himself from kissing the pretty face in front of him so his boyfriend had a chance to answer. Virgil only nodded, his face becoming red as he needed to look away from the large smile on the nerd’s face in order to not cover his face in an equally large smile himself. “Wh… Ha… God I’m fucking speechless. Who takes whose surname? Or shall we double barrel?”

The weight fell off Logan’s hips and onto the bed beside him again as Virgil regained his composure with his signature beautiful smirk. “I say whoever proposes first. This didn’t count, race starts now.” Virgil lay on the bed and faced his boyfriend at a more comfortable angle. “Logan Black sure does sound good.”

“You wish.” Logan scoffed, facing his husband and nuzzling his nose. “Virgil Crofters sounds better.”

*****

It was a weekend, so usually Logan would grab a book and lay on his bed for hours on end and dissolve his mind into a fantasy world. Now however he was facing reality and was going to stare his future in the face. He opened his bottom drawer and grabbed the small box at the very back: a black box with a dark grey ring inside. The ring wasn’t too flashy, only one small purple iolite and two black diamonds. Virgil didn’t want anything too big otherwise he’d get anxious with all the congratulations and compliments.

His boyfriend was Virgil Black. His fiancé would (hopefully) be Virgil Black. His husband was Virgil Crofters. That name had such a nice ring to it – pun definitely intended. Logan could feel his heartbeat speed up staring at the ring and imagining it on his boyfriend’s finger. He should get used to saying fiancé now though… And he finally understood why Virgil said he was such a sap.

Determinedly Logan marched to his boyfriend’s room across the hallway, where he was most of the weekend unless the two went out together. He made sure the ring box was firmly hidden in a backpack he quickly picked up though, he had a plan.

Virgil lay on his bed with his back facing the door, listening to his music with his giant purple headphones, covered in his boyfriend’s favourite blanket they bought together in the UK when Virgil visited the Crofters family for the first time, sucking his thumb and working on a sci-fi book he had been working on for about 6 months (he always called his books silly – although Logan would refute that. They were very well written Virgil just saw it as a hobby).

“Storm-cloud?” Logan hummed causing his boyfriend to turn and smile. Such a calm and beautiful smile that Logan couldn’t help but kiss – so of course he did. Virgil separated the kiss realising the backpack on his boyfriend’s back and raising an eyebrow. “Can we have a date Storm-cloud?”

“Where – A National Park?” Virgil giggled but still looked at his boyfriend with the most love in the world. He might wonder why such a nerdy introvert was so determined to get up at 7am every morning and get dressed as if he was going to spend the entire day outside – but Virgil loved him with all his heart. Logan shook his head.

“You know there’s that hiking trail just off campus I wanted to take you on ever since we started dating?” Logan managed the biggest puppy eyes he could manage knowing Virgil could not say no if he begged. That didn’t mean Virgil didn’t try though.

“Honey I’m still in pjs and it’s 2pm…” After a minute of silence Virgil chuckled, standing and giving his boyfriend a quick kiss. Well, it was meant to be quick but was extended when Logan wrapped his arms around him and tugged the back of his t-shirt – a small movement that made Virgil weak at the knees and almost collapse. Eventually he had to separate. “Fine… Give me half an hour to get ready.”

The boyfriends were soon on their hiking trail, holding hands and laughing together. They had both chosen the easier hike which still had good scenery, just had a few more people on which the pair didn’t mind. Well, Logan would rather they were completely alone. Not only was he walking hand in hand with his boyfriend, which could give him insults anyway, but he was going to propose to said boyfriend and that could all be ruined if one bad person spoke up.

He tried not to think about what could go wrong too much, that’s something that Virgil often did. Instead he focused on the now. Now he had his boyfriend close and he was looking at him with the most admiration in the world. He could stare into those brown eyes forever and get lost in them. Which he did, walking up the path and keeping Virgil close. Virgil Crofters.

“What are you looking at?” Virgil whispered, standing on his toes and giving Logan a kiss before he could answer. Logan paused and took the kissing time to think things through – he had his boyfriend not letting go of him and the ring in his backpack – how could he adequately distract the love of his life from looking at him?

Virgil tore away from Logan and tilted his head, a look of sad confusion entering his face. Logan also looked confused at him until he spoke. “Logan. You’re nervous.”

Logan thought he could hide his fear, but his boyfriend knew better. “I’m not nervous.” He said, sounding a lot more nervous than he should and averted his eyes from his lover’s gaze. This just worried Virgil more though and he knew it. “Honey trust me I’m alright.” Virgil rolled his eyes and let go of Logan to cross his arms. This tactic worked before to get Logan to ask him on a date – and had worked since - so he knew it would almost definitely work again. “Honey…”

“Not moving bitch. Talk.” Virgil said confidently. Logan had to think of something, and he had to think quick.

Behind Virgil was a forest of trees, beautiful trees that housed all different animals at all different times of the year. He just kept his eyes on it, seeing if there was any movement that would distract Logan’s boyfriend enough for Logan to quickly get the ring out of his backpack. There was nothing after a few minutes, and Virgil was worrying more. He had to speak.

“A bat! Virgil, there’s a bat in the tree!”

As expected Virgil’s anxious expression immediately became a smile as he turned. He even stepped a metre or two in the wood which Logan didn’t expect but he was thankful for. At the speed of light Logan reached into his backpack, opened it, got the ring, closed it again and slung it over his back. When Virgil turned back around Logan was stood in the same position and place he was in before but with a smile on his face. 

“Shall we walk honey?” Logan said calmly, his hand in one pocket but the other welcoming Virgil to cuddle close. Of course Virgil had to oblige and continued the hike with his boyfriend until they reached the top.

The top of the mountain they climbed was beautiful. It was surrounded by greenery (which was rare for their area of Florida) but still high enough that the pair could see their entire campus and all of the houses and shops and businesses just beyond it. Their view wasn’t obstructed by trees either and the sun was still up so they could see everything fully. Virgil couldn’t help but sit on the ground – soon joined by Logan - and look, feeling like Simba in the Lion King. Logan would say something cheesy like this was his kingdom and he could do anything with it.

But instead of a cheesy line Logan was silent. He wasn’t holding Virgil at all and was staring in front of him. He had the look of determination, the look he’d give his homework the day it was set when he’d know he’d achieve 100%. This certainly wasn’t a normal look he’d be giving anything on a date. “Right, now I know something’s up.” Virgil mumbled and crossed his arms again. “Teach, you can trust me.”

Before Virgil could process anything he could feel his lips colliding with Logan’s. This was a new kiss he unlocked, a hasty one with such obvious nerves laced in it, a series of millisecond kisses that came one after another yet warmed his blood up happily. Logan lay his fingers either side of his neck this time, gently so not to hurt him, even though the kisses seemed less gentle and slow compared to the last ones he’d initiated over their almost three year long relationship. The only thing that calmed him was when Virgil pulled away for a second, then held his boyfriend’s face in place and gave him one of the usual longer and slower kisses.

“I… I love you.” Logan said, still too quick for Virgil’s liking so he kissed him again. During this kiss one of Logan’s hands left the side of Virgil’s neck but Virgil didn’t care to track it. All that mattered was calming his boyfriend from whatever was worrying him. “Huh… uh… Storm…” Logan eventually mumbled, making Virgil stop and look at him. Logan’s blue eyes were blown wide and his lips were as red as his face. “Look down…”

On the floor between them was something he never really expected to see. Sure Logan and he had agreed on it happening but Virgil guessed he never actually processed the eventuality of that happening as he was freaking out. It was a ring in front of him. A real, real-life engagement ring. He had no words.

“Virgil Arthur Black – Will you marry me?” Just the look of Logan in that moment, so happy and nervous and excited, made Virgil excited for what more was to come. He leaped forward to hold his fiancé closer.

“Yes!”


End file.
